Forum for National Committees
The French national Committee of the World Road Association
France was the country responsible for founding the PIARC association in 1909 (renamed the World Road Association in 1996). The French nation has always had a strong presence and active membership in the association, which it presided uninterrupted through 1976. It was not until 1953 however that France established its own national committee, FC-PIARC, whose purpose at the time was to provide an assembly for PIARC's French members under direct supervision of the government, which appointed the National Committee Chairmen. It should nonetheless be pointed out that in addition to public works professionals managing road infrastructure and State and local representatives, the French Committee's composition early on also featured private-sector bodies like the National Federation of Road Transporters, the Technical Road Association and the Union of French Road Industry Associations, to name a few.